Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Elvis and Me: The True Story of the Love Between Priscilla Presley and the King of Rock N' Roll

I thought that this book was extremely emotional. Priscilla writes in a way that makes you feel as if you are experiencing it all with her. She tells these important events in her and Elvis's relationship that changed the way I had viewed the couple all my life. While I have previously known that fame isn't as glamorous as it seems, I never thought all of this could come along with it.
I also thought this book had an adventurous undertone. While it is informative and even a bit depressing Priscilla did a phenomenal job at always trailing bad moments with great life events. While they had numerous issues and were nowhere near perfect, they had a lot of good moments as well. I personally liked how Priscilla really focused on the fact that Elvis should be portrayed as a man. Yes, he was the king of rock and roll and a famous rockstar, but at the end of the day, he was a man. A man who gets angry and fights with his wife, a man who drinks too much and commits adultery, but still just a man. Priscilla had always said that no matter if it made the outlook better or worse, people always say Elvis as the idea of him, never just Elvis.

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underwaterlauren's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

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carolinecash's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

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amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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broncoannee's review against another edition

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dark

1.75

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mari1532's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

2.5

I was interested in reading this book because of the new Sophia Coppola movie that just came out. So, I took advantage of the audiobook being included in my audible subscription.

Now before reading this book, I knew that Priscilla was significantly younger than Elvis, but I did not know that he had essentially groomed her from her early teens. I find the rating and review of this book to be incredibly hard. It was well written in terms of a memoir and I appreciated how open Priscilla was about her story. However, reading it I was a little concerned that she didn't have any understanding that some of the things she was describing were abusive. I am trying not to project my opinions about the events she describes onto her story, but this book feels like it was written to absolve Elvis of sins rather than a reflection of her lived experiences.

For instance, she seems to take no issue with the fact that there was a massive age difference. Or that he sexualized her as a teenager while also making her guilty and threatening her should she be sexual with anyone else. There is also a moment in the book in a later chapter where it felt like she was describing marital rape.

I did listen to the entirety of this book, but I honestly wish I hadn't. I kept waiting for some self-reflective moments where she mentioned therapy or any indication that Elvis might not have been that great, but it never came. Unfortunately, I would not recommend this book.

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